I think so. He also wishes his dead brother was alive again, but the brother, killed in an accident, then does nothing but scream in pain.
Some good suggestions, mine would be:
Six Feet Under The finale sequence definitely, I think possibly the best piece of television I’ve ever seen. Buckets of tears and has continued to haunt me ever since.
Futurama The time skip episode and they’re watching the news. “Next we’ll see if new pop sensation Wendy (skip) won three Emmies last night and was later (skip) found dead in her bathtub”.
Babylon 5 The scene where Delenn goes to speak to the Grey Council to chew them out for not taking any action about the shadows and saying that if the warriors won’t fight then the other castes will, then storming out of the room followed by six of the Council members in silence. (Something I always liked about B5 was how for several series in the credits they had for Vir the image of him smiling and making a little wave which one would assume was the show making him out to be all fun and cuddly but is actually him telling Morton how he can’t wait for the day when he gets to see his head on a spike and wave to it as a reminder that some things come with too high a price.)
Deep Space Nine “Way of the Warrior” when the Klingons attack the station. Quark is intending to defend his bar and says to Odo “I’m going to defend my bar, with this” opening the box in his hands. Odo takes out the piece of paper inside and reads “Dear Quark I took the parts from your disrupter to fix the replicators, will replace them soon love Rom”. Quark says “I will kill him!” and Odo says “With what?”.
Voyager Scorpion part 1 where Voyager is attempting to talk to the Borg to tell them they have a weapon to fight species 8472. After the Borg realise what they are being offered they simply transport Janeway onto their ship and say “State your demands”. Diplomacy as only the Borg could do it.
Star Trek TNG When Data makes a child and she starts to malfunction. He has the final conversation with her before she breaks down and she says “I love you father” and he says “I wish I was able to respond”. I’ve watched that episode three times and each time I’ve cried my eyes out.
Drawn Together The gay marriage episode where Clara storms into the church and cries out “Stop, stop this abomination! Don’t you see? If the gays can get married then the institution of marriage will be destroyed. Society will crumble, rivers will run red with blood, and Nazis will walk the earth riding dinosaurs!”.
X Files The one where the killer projects his thoughts onto photos, at the start of the episode the victim has just been attacked by him after having her photo taken and the photographer looks at it to see a whole world of weirdness staring back at him.
Battlestar Galactica Just generally the whole thing with Number 6 appearing to Baltar and talking to him, I always love those bits.
To refresh my memory I just watched this on youtube and it brought me out in goose pimples. Sooooooooooooooo good!
It’s the line that lets me know if someone is a fan of the show or not. It’s perhaps the most powerful line in the series… Except perhaps for the entire Philo Farnsworth episode (my personal fave).
I came in here to mention two that have already been mentioned, though. Mrs. Landingham’s funeral (the scene thereafter), and Mal kicking the thug into the engine. I’ve often taken to using the exact same tone of voice with, “Well… Damn.” My friends know to back off when I do so.
Buffy - Season 2 (?) finale, when Willow’s spell returns Angelus to Angel while he’s fighting Buffy. She knows he’s Angel again but stabs him anyway to prevent the Hellmouth from opening.
Friends - The prom video episode, where Rachel gets up and walks over to Ross and kisses him.
MASH - When Radar announces Henry has been killed on his way home
Just looking at the shows you all decided to list - you guys are the biggest bunch of geeks this side of slashdot!
I also liked Jeremy’s job interview on Sports Night, and my favorite** Frasier **episode is the Valentine Day one, where Niles is waiting for a blind date.
He starts off noticing a crease in his pants, and ends up setting the couch on fire and fainting from the sight of his own blood. David Hyde Pierce doesn’t say a word the entire scene, but I was screaming on the floor by the time it faded to black.
Also, Worf, “Sir, I must protest! I am not a Merry Man!”
How do you know we’re not part of slashdot too?
Trying to avoid things already mentioned:
The Rockford Files : Rockford’s friend Angel telling him, “I’ll stonewall them, Jimmy” and then immediately folding up and spilling his guts to the bad guys shortly thereafter.
*Northern Exposure *: The election for mayor episode, when in the town meeting a miscellaneous townsperson asking if a stop sign Mayor Holling had failed to install was an example of Hamiltonion or Jeffersonian government, and moderator Ruthanne telling him to just shut up.
Home Improvement: Major-General Borland
Magnum, P.I.: Magnum shooting at the plane as it goes over him on the runway.
My Name is Earl: Catalina jumping
Geez, I list 15 shows and the only two Sci-Fi ones are the most classic of all Sci-Fi anyway. While I will admit to being a geek, I believe my picks were very mainstream. Thanks for the broad brush. Grumble, Grumble, Grumble.
I would like to add another show.
Just Shoot Me had a Christmas episode, “How the Finch Stole Christmas” with several parodies of Christmas Specials. Nina was in a Yes, Virgina themed story. Elliot was cast in the Role of Charlie Brown protesting the commercialism of Christmas right down to the shirt and a sad tree. Finch was cast as the Grinch and in the highlight of this excellent episode, he tries to use a large magnet at one point to pull the nails out of the wall holding up some stockings.
Jim
The West Wing: Add another vote for the Latin speech. Although when Leo first gets the news and John Spencer pulls off the most incredible 30 secs of television ever. No sound, no movement, just the slightest change in his face, but it hits like a ton of bricks. Brilliant.
Northern Exposure: I believe the episode title is “Northern Lights”. The scene where Chris turns on the light sculpture to the words from Dylan Thomas’ Do not go gentle into that good night.
WKRP In Cincinnati: While the Turkey episode really is the best, I will always remember the moment when Mr. Carlson discovers that people died at The Who concert he had so unexpectedly enjoyed.
WKRP, MASH, Simpsons, Seinfeld, all make you a geek. Sorry, but it’s true. If you’d included NewsRadio, you’d be card-carrying.
Interesting, I never considered the first two as geeky at all. They were very popular shows when I was a kid/teen and neither shows any sign of Geekdom to me. What are you basing this on?
As to Simpsons, guilty as charged. I recognize the heavy geek factor to this show. I did not list Seinfeld initially as I am not really a fan of the show. The Soup Nazi thing was big for a while. So I do remember that well and I liked that episode.
Jim (Sorry for the Hijack, but now I am curious)
I can’t really think of a definitive Freak & Geeks scene, but today I was just watching the episode (“Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers”) with two of my favorites:
Bill after school eating a grilled cheese and cracking up over Garry Shandling on the Dinah Shore show. He’s escaped the torment of school and is having a great time just being himself.
And again Bill, crying in the gym teacher’s car after crashing on the go-cart track. He’s feeling so bad about so many things, and he just doesn’t know what to do. Poor Bill.
But I loved the D&D episode too. You could tell that the AV teacher was a geek in his own time.
I had a Dwarf named Carlos in honor of that episode. But I hate playing dwarves so I made sure to get him killed.
Hmm. Actually, maybe MASH doesn’t count as geeky. But WKRP counts, in my opinion, because everyone seems to quote the same single episode about the turkeys, all the time, and it’s almost become a symbol of your love for the show that you also think that episode is worth quoting again and again. Sort of.
Well, that’s just me. I apologise for the hijack. You may now continue with your regularly scheduled reminiscences.
Law and Order
Detectives Brisco and Logan are persuing a fleeing suspect. Logan glances around a corner and sees the kid running up the alley in his direction. Back behind cover, he reaches for his gun, stops, then grabs a garbage can lid, swinging it out just in time for the kid to run full-tilt into it. WHANGthump
JAG: Bud’s toast for Mic and Mac at their wedding rehearsal dinner. Mostly for the juxtaposition between the toast and the scene it was inter-cut with.
Space: Above and Beyond: “With all do respect, Chaplain, I don’t think our maker wants to hear from me right now. Because he knows I’m gonna go out into His sky in this plane to remove one of His creations from His universe. And when I return, I’m gonna drink a bottle of Scotch, as if it were Chiggy Von Richtofen’s blood, and celebrate his death.”
“Amen.”
The scene in Babylon 5 when Sheridan, cornered by the Shadows jumps into the pit as the nuke-laden White Star crashes through the ceiling far above.
Star Trek : OS : From Balance of Terror : “Just one . . . duty left.”
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turns control *
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screen goes white *
Funniest damn thing I have ever seen.
Agreed. A close runner-up is the one where Frasier directed an old-time radio show. “Never again to relive my boyhood in Surrey, romping with my schoolchums in the fens and spinneys . . .” BLAM! <knock knock knock> “Hello, I’m the ice cream man! Years ago I went to school with Nigel and Cedric Fairservice, romping in the fens . . .”